Under the Shadow of His Wings

Psalm 9:9
The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.

This is a powerful promise and one to meditate on and memorize to be written on the tablets of our hearts and minds. The beauty of this passage is in the word, “Refuge”. In the Webster dictionary and bible dictionaries the word refuge means; a shelter and protection from danger or distress. What’s more interesting is the Hebrew definition for refuge: ‎misgab (mis-gawb) which also means; “CLIFF” - High and Lofty inaccessible to reach or obtain.

Here is the cross-reference for this very passage:

Psalm 91:2-5 “I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust." Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, NKJV

In this passage especially in verses 3 and 4, we learn that our refuge is under the shadow of His wings. Eagles and most birds are known to protect their young by placing them underneath their wings hiding them from the eyes of the predators and protecting them from the snare of the fowler. Read More...

Are YOU Ready for a Fresh New Year?

Are you ready for a Fresh New Year?
By Filoiann Wiedenhoff

This past year has brought a lot of growth, joy, blessings and also painful trials and hardship. My family and I have grown so much and at the same time we have been spiritually, mentally and physically pruned back for future growth. I guess you could call it growing pains. Did I forget to mention along with pruning there was also spiritual warfare? Although the pruning process and spiritual battles can seem lonely and indeed painful at the time we understand God is with us and that He allows it in our lives to grow us, strengthen us and refine us to bear more fruit. I’m not one to welcome pain or suffering but I know by faith God is faithful and sovereign and uses it to make us more like Christ ….but ouch does it hurt at the time. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. - Romans 8:18 KJV
The encouragement we receive from God to persevere through is the fruit God bears through our personal relationships with Him and our ministries. When we see how far we have come and what God has delivered us from, brought us through and how He took us out of the miry pit and set us upon a rock and also when we look around our congregation or when I receive encouraging notes through my writing ministry, we see how God has changed lives, renewed marriages, restored relationships and brought healing. We rejoice because we know and understand that it isn’t us but God working in us and we are so blessed and thankful to Him for allowing us to see glimpses of His faithfulness. It encourages us that though times have been hard and difficult it has also been fruitful and that makes all the trials we have gone through well worth it.
I believe God reveals a taste to us to keep us moving forward by faith reminding us that He is working behind the scenes and at the same time in us and through us and that it’s not us anymore. In Galatians it says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 NKJV

The word that keeps coming to my mind for 2010 is, “Fresh”. It’s not necessarily a biblical term but I took a look at the Webster’s Online Dictionary and it gave these definitions:

Full of or renewed in vigor : Vigor = active bodily or mental strength or force
Refreshed = restore, refresh, revive, renovate
Free from taint: Pure.
Received newly or anew.

After looking at these definitions I was amazed to see that fresh means; full of or renewed in vigor, pure, refresh, restore, revive, renovate and received anew. At first when I looked at these definitions it didn’t sound right to me. When I think of a ripe fresh banana I don’t see it as refreshed or renewed. I then recollected the idea that when an old house is being restored; what is one of the first things we want to do? We want to give it a fresh coat of paint. We are transforming something that may be old to be like new by just adding some fresh touches. A few fresh additions can go a long way to a house that needs repairs and restoration and in most cases adding a new roof, new flooring and other new necessities to an old house can transform it to be anew.

Are you ready for a fresh and anew touch from God this year? Filled with vigor that is active bodily, mental and I will add spiritual strength? I don’t know about you but I certainly am! Perhaps you are in need of renewal, revival, restoration or refreshment. Turn to God in faith and allow Him to heal, refresh and restore you and He is faithful. Matthew chapter six tells us not to worry but to seek Him first because He knows everything we need. I encourage you to read the entire chapter it will bless you and remember seek Him (Christ) first and all these things shall be added or given to you.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, -2 Corinthians 4:16-5:2 NKJV

Whether this past year was considered a good year or bad year; we can look back and see God’s faithfulness and also that He was with us through it all. We can now look forward in anticipation that this new year will be a fresh year of God’s handy work, His Glory and yes I will say it again His faithfulness - filled with mercies that are new every morning and the plans that He has for us. He gives us daily manna from heaven through His Word and Holy Spirit and as our Heavenly Father He knows everything we need and will provide for us.

I believe the word, “Fresh” is a sovereign proclamation for this new year. My prayer is that God will give us a fresh heart, a fresh spirit, a fresh purpose and also a fresh vision that can only come from Him, from heaven above to glorify His name.
My question again is, “Are you ready for a fresh new year? Are you ready to let go of you, your desires, your wants and grab a hold of Him and live for Him? To say in your heart to God, “Not my will but thy will be done?”
If you aren’t ready yet I encourage you to pray that God would make you ready and prepare your heart for whatever He has for you. According to Jeremiah 29:11-13, God knows the plans He has for us, plans for good and not for evil; to give us a future and a hope. Let us stand on His promises and walk forward by faith heeding His call and He is faithful.
Time is short and I believe He desires for us to be about our Father’s business in a fresh and powerful new way, filled with His Spirit; Confident in His Victory - knowing the battle has already been won in Christ. I challenge you once again to pray and ask God to make you ready and give you a fresh heart to serve Him by faith and see what God does.

“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:20-24 NKJV

Dear Heavenly Father,
Refresh me and make me new and show me your Glory through your son Jesus. Please give me a fresh heart and renewed spirit that says, “Not my will but your will be done.” I want to live for you Jesus by surrendering and allowing you to live through me that you and your name sake would be glorified through me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!

Dealing with Busyness

Luke 10:38-42"Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus'* feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." And Jesus* answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." NKJV

I was driving around this afternoon, running errands for this and that, picking up the kids then taking the kids here and dropping them off there. Now that I have teenagers I think I spend more time in my car now than ever.As I was coming home I thought about the story of Martha and Mary and how the topic of sitting at the Lords feet rather than works has been coming up a lot lately. Hmmm....gee

I wonder if God is trying to send me a message? Well, one thought did come to mind. When I was thinking about Martha, I realized that faith without deeds is dead but Jesus said that one thing was needed and Mary chose the good part and it will not be taken away from her. So I asked myself, "Where is the balance between being a Mary and a Martha?"What I love about God's Word is when you look at the heart of what the scriptures are really saying, you will find that it makes so much sense and it also brings clarity. For example, If you look at the passage again, Martha was doing a noble thing. She was preparing a meal for Jesus and His disciples.

Remember in those days they did not have microwave ovens, electric stoves and a supe
rmarket to buy fresh bread. Everything had to be handmade from scratch and most likely took hours to prepare.So in looking back in time, asking Mary for a little help would have been reasonable. The wonderful thing about Jesus was that He knew how hard Martha was working in the kitchen and also knew that she probably did need help but saw Mary's heart as an opportunity to display His will rather than Martha's will. He wanted them both to know and understand that sitting at His feet was more important to Him than serving Him food. As you read on you will see that the food Jesus desires doesn't come from human hands.

Do you remember the story of the woman at the well? After Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman he told His disciples that His food was to do the will of His Father. His ministering to the woman at the well was His sustenance; it nourished Him and made Him full. We don't realize how important to God we are. Yes, we do know that He loves us and died for us but for some reason it seems as though that concept doesn't register in our minds what the height, depth and width of His love for us really is.

We forget that this world is passing away and we get so caught up in this life with so many things and neglect what really matters most which is our personal relationship with Jesus. We read the bible for 15 minutes and call it a day instead of meditating on His Word or His Love all day long. We'll choose to watch a two hour movie but spending a half hour in prayer is too long for us. We go here and we go there but never stop to give God our thanks and praise.All the while, He is there just waiting patiently for us to remember Him in the midst of our busy lives. But Mary's heart is what blessed Him. He saw that she just wanted to inhale anything that came out of His mouth. She was so grateful and thankful to Have Him there in her house that she didn't care about anything else but being right there at His feet.

So what was the question again? It was how do we find the balance between being a Mary and Martha?

Jesus set the tone with His response to Martha by saying that she was distracted by much serving. The key word here is "distracted". What's interesting is the word used in the Hebrew is "Perispao" in our English language it is, "cumber" which means hindered by being in the way. In other words Martha's busyness and serving was actually hindering her and getting in the way of her relationship with Jesus.My questions to you is, "Is your service or busyness keeping you or getting in the way of you having a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus?"

Jesus also said that Mary chose that good part and it will not be taken away from her. The word part also means portion. He was making a distinction between Martha's serving and Mary's sitting. In our relationship with Jesus we are created to serve Him and Glorify God and we are also called to sit at His Feet and receive from Him. But Jesus makes it very clear which part comes first. Martha's desire to feed and serve Jesus was indeed a blessing, but Mary's sitting and receiving from Jesus was the one thing that was needed and it will never be taken away from her because she chose that good part. So the message here is that before we go out to serve the Lord, we must first sit and receive from Him because it is He that enables us and empowers us to do His good and perfect work here on earth.

Rom 9:16"So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. "NKJV

Remember that Jesus's food was to do the will of His father by making Himself real to the people that God brought to Him by feeding them with His Word. Do you see how when we come to Jesus and allow Jesus to feed us His Word that He is fed also and so are we?

Rev 3:20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.NKJV

So the next time you find yourself being a Martha, don't forget to ask yourself if you are first being a Mary. Invite Him in and allow Him to feed you with His Word and in the midst of your busyness you will find peace and joy because you dine with your Lord and King who sustains you and makes you full. For the bible says that He will satisfy us.

Last question: Are you dining with Him? If not, He stands at the door knocking and waiting for you to open the door of your heart. Allow Him to come in and dine with you and you with Him.

Filoiann Wiedenhoff is a Pastor's Wife, Woman's Biblical Counselor, Bible Teacher, Writer and Columnist. You can view her website on http://www.filoiannwiedenhoff.com/